Propeller.



G. G. BOWEP.

PROPELLER.

APPLIOATIOK FILED SEPT. 11, 1911.

1,023,501. Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

3 SHEETSSHEBT 1 1 i a i 1 I 0) 1% w 1 l i i mum 1 IQ 1% a Witnesses o5 by Attor neys G. G. BOWER.

PROPBLLER.

APPLIUATION FILED 8I1PT.11,1911.

1,023,501. Patented Apr. 16; 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Witnesses Inventor XM/EWW b M Attorneys G. G. BOWBR.

PROPELLER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT,11,1911.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3,

Witnesses Mam Attorneys ononen cou on no wnn, or nnnnnroon'enonom.

PBOPELLEB.

Specifications! Iettera latent.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

Application filed September 11, 1911. Serial No. 648,809.

To all wfwm it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonon G. Bowen, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bainbridge, in the county of Decatur and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Propeller, of which the following is a ecificatlon.

hepresent invention relates to improvements in propellers,-that is a novel form and an" arrangement of propelling mechanism for boats, air-shi' s and aero lanes, and the primary object o the inventiomis the propresenting at the proper time t e maximum lade resistance, and at other times retracting the blade orblades to reduce the friction.

By means of the adjustability of the cam for rojecting and retracti the blades or ad lcs relatively to the casing, it is possile to impart a per endicular movement to an airship or aerop ane and thus render it unnecessary to get a gliding or vinclined start, as is the present practice,'wl nle when applied to a boat, the casing and its blades or paddles being completely submerged and disposed in pairs u boat throng out t e length thereof, It is possible to reverse the propulsive action of the blades or paddles, .vithout reversing the motion of the casing, motor or engine, or even reducing the s eed of the motor or engine; to act u on t e water in a horizontal plane from a ove or below to raise either end of the boat or the entire boat in passing over bars or shoals or to elevate the bow or stern when desired; and further to cause all the propellers upon one side to impart to that side a downward list, while those upon the other side impart an upward list, as for instance in firing heavy ordnance for great distances or range. Further by reason of the independent manipulation of the propellers, those upon one side may be rotated to act upon the water in a reverse direction, while those upon the other side act upon the water in a forward directiomthus making vision of a rotating oasin disposed verti-' on opposite sides of the it possible to turn the boat in a very short distance, and also providein case a rudder should be lost or become useless a means for repelling and simultaneously steering the With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description roceeds, the inventlon resides in the cominat-ion and arrangement ofparts and the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed within the scope of what is claimed may be made without departing from the shit of the invention.

In the drawings igure 1 is a side elevation of a vessel with the present inventionshown applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 22 of Fig. 1, looking downwardly. Fig. 3 is a cross section through the vessel in line with a single pair of the propellers. Fig. 4 is an elevation of a pro eller with one side of the casing remove the various positions of the paddles or blades being illustrated in dotted, dotand-dash, and dash lines. Fig. 5 is a vertical central section through the propeller as viewed in Fig. 4, the full ropeller casing being shown. Figs. 6 and g are views of a modified form employing two pairs of blades. Fig. 8 is an elevation of a modified form employin an auxiliary hood to rovide for use 0 large blades. Fi g) 15 a side elevation of a vessel equippe with a motor actuated reversing mechanism. Fig. -10 is a view similar to Fig. 6 of another modified form of propeller.

Referring to the drawin the numeral 1 designates a boat, having disposed in pairs upon opposite sides thereof, as clearly illustrated Hi Fi 1 and 2, the vertically disposed prope lers--2. These propellers are operated from a common source of power (not shown), which may be steam, or exlosive engines, and are applied to any orm of vessel without the usual wells that are-used when employing many proposed forms of propellers.

In ractice, a sleeve 3, is rejected throug the hull of the boat, and is provided with a stufling box 4, this sleeve being capable of being manually rotated by means of the lever and ratchet 5, or the pneumatic control C, as shown in Fig. 9. Incased within this sleeve and projecting beyond both ends thereof is the propeller shaft 6,

plates 12, durin Whose inner end is provided with power transmitting means 7, for operable connection with the source of ower, said shaft being the rotatable mem er and being constantly rotated when the boat is to be in motion. Upon the o'uter'endof the shaft is attached ,and rotatable therewith a circular disk 8, which is concaved tov form with a similarly shaped but oppositely disposed disk 9, a propeller casinglO, the'disk 9, being rotatably mounted upon the sleeve 3, be yond the inner'faoe of the circular cam 11, which is keyed u' on the shaft 6,eccentrically thereof. and wit in and to thecasing 10. By means of the lever and ratchet 5, or pneumatic control 0,, the sleeve 3 is moved to change the relative osition of the cam 11, as indicated in dot-t lines Fig. 4.

Dis osed within the casing 10 are the two para] el plates 12 which at all times rest upon the eripheraledge of the cam 11, as shown in Fig. 4, the tie-rods13, connecting said plates and holding them in such relative position, said tie-rods spanning or straddlin the cam" and shaft, as clearly shown. arried rigidly by and projecting centrally from the respectlve plates 12, are the propeller blades or paddles 14, each one of which is projected and retracted radially of the casing 10 b means of the cam and t e rotation of the casing about said cam, lades when propelling the vessel forwardly acting as shown in full lines Fig. 4, the casin 10 being rotated at all times in the direction of the arrow. Should it be desired to reverse the motion of the boat, the cam'll is rotated by its sleeve 3 to assume the osition in dotted lines, or exactly diametrically opposed to the reverse direction, thus causing the blades to be projected when at the to of the casing 10, and asthe casing is comp etely'submerged and is rotated in the direction of the arrow, the blades impart to the boat a direction opposite to the full line position.

Should it be desired to list the boat or raise the same, the cam is moved to the position as shown in dash lines Fig. 4, at which time the blades will act at right-angles to the other described positions and downwardly upon the body of water, thus imparting a lift-effect to the boat at that point. While should it be slightly submerged, that is depress the stem to lift the bow, and vice versa, the cam is pperated to assume the po sition as shown 1n dot-and-dash lines Fig. 4, at which time the addles or blades will act upwardly upon t e body of water and exert a pressure to pull downwardly that portion of the boat.

Where a series of these propellers are employed as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that all upon one side may assume the position as shown in full lines Fig. 4, while those upon the other side may assume the position as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1,

thus imparting a spinning motion to the boat so that the boat may be turned within its length, or nearly so. If all upon one side of the boat are caused to assume the dash position, while those uponthe other side assume the dot-and-dash position, it is apparent that one side will be lifted and the other lowered,- thus imparting a list to the -boat, this angle of which may be regulated by the relative posit-ions of the cams between the per ndicular and 90 degree position as shown in Fig. 4, t-he'greatest list being at the direct 90' degree positiori, while the aduated list will be imparted therebetweenin either" direction.

In the form of propeller shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the cam 15, is provided with a central circumferential rib or rid e 16, whereby two sets of plates 17, and blades 18, disposed at right angles relativel to each other is used, thus providing four blades, instead of two, as in the other views, the casing 19,

being provided with four apertures 20 and guide slots 21, instead of two. In this case the casing rotates similarly to the other structures, the cam bein stationary, so that the blades are projecte and retracted ex teriorly of and within the casing, as in the other case.

Where it is desirable to employ longer blades that project when retracted slightly beyond the periphery of the casing, as shown in Fig. 8, a segmental hood or cap 23 is placed exteriorly of the casing 24, and provides a means for housin the projecting ends 22 of the blades, said hood being attached to the sleeve 3' and operable with the cam 24, said casing being provided with a groove 25, to permit the excess water to flow and not effect the retardationof the propeller.

In the control C, as shown in Fig. 9, said control being em loyed for large vessels where the manual manipulation would be impractical, a pneumatic cylinder 26, with a piston 27, is o erably connected to the bar 28, which opera 1y connects the cam sleeves 3 together for operation in unison, the evice '29, being employed to permit the operation of certain ones, or all upon one side in unison, as desired.

In the form of propeller shown in Fig. 10 the cam 15' is straddled by the short ends of the respective frames 33 and 34 thus dispensing with the guiding and projecting ends as viewed in Figs. 4 and 6. The blades 1 8' and casing 19' are made and disposed as in the other cases. i

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawin it is evident that a positive forward an reverse movement and perpendicular impulse or stroke against the water is possible, avoiding any slipping action or the forming of a cavity due to centrifugal force and the engaging of the water at all points of the circumference of the propeller; that the present form of propeller may be used advantageously with .one way rotation turbines as the cam device reverses the propelling action of the ropeller without chan ing the direction 0 rotation of the propeller; that the same may be actuated to steer, s in and list a boat, and to impart perpen icular movement to an aeroplane or airship, this all being accomplished Without effecting the slackening of the propeller or Without feathering or turning the blades.

iVhatis claimed, is

1. A propeller, having a casing composed of two concaved disks the peripheral portion of which provides a tapered in cross section Water cutting surface, said casing being provided with a plurality of equi-distantly disposed radial slots through the periphery thereof, a shaft disposed concentrically of the casing and connected tothe outer disk, a sleeve rotatably mounted upon said shaft and forming a bearing for the other disk of the casing, a cam keyed to and disposed eccentrically upon the sleeve within the casing, the casing and shaft being disposed to rotate in one direction at all times, and when in operable relation to be completely submerged, a lurality of frames disposed to ride upon the cam and Within the casing, a blade to each slot of the casing connected to and carried by said frames to be retracted and projected through the respective slots of the casing due to the rotation of the casing.

2. A ,propeller, having a casing composed of two concaved disks, the peripheral portion of which provides a tapered in cross section water cutting surface, said casing being provided with a plurality of equi-distantly disposed radial slots through the periphery thereof, a shaft disposed concen trically of the casing and connected to the outer disk, a sleeve rotatably -mounted upon said shaft and forming a bearing for the other disk of the casing, a cam keyed to and disposed eccentrieally upon the sleeve within the casing, the casing and shaft being disposed to rotate in one direction at all times, and when in operable relation to be completely submerged, a plurality of frames disposed to ride upon thecam and within the casing, a blade to each slot of the casing connected to and carried by said frames to be retracted and projected through the respective slots of the casing due to the rotation of the casing, the len h of the said blades being greater than t e Width of the casing so that a portion thereof normally projects beyond the periphery of the casing when in retracted position, and a guard hood connected to and rotatable with the sleeve, said hood being disposed in an opposite position to the cam andfitting upon and about the ortion of the casing to inclose the ends of the retracted blades.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE GORDON BOWER.

Witnesses:

FRANK B. OoHsENnnrrER, ANNA C. BURKE. 

